National Institute of New Energy to come up in Odisha Capital

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sep 9:

Odisha Government will soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to set up a National Institute of New Energy in Bhubaneswar.

The institute will work towards popularizing renewable energy, executing projects and conduct advanced research in the domain. It will emphasize on production of renewable energy such as solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydro energy production in coastal states.

Besides, the institute will work towards minimizing transmission loss and ensuring round the clock electricity supply at low costs apart from implementing small-scale pilot projects.

“The Rs 250 crore project will come up on a 15 acre plot near Arugul and besides IIT Bhubaneswar. While the union government will fund the institute, the state government will provide the land and other facilities,” said Chairman of GRIDCO and Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) CMD Hemant Sharma.

As of now, 35,000 MW of renewable energy is being produced in the country. This is 14 percent of the total electricity production in the country. In Odisha, the share of renewable energy out of total production is meagre 0.3 percent at 160 MW.

“The country plans to produce 1,75,000 MW of renewable energy by 2022 including 1 L MW solar energy, 60,000 MW hydro energy and another 15,000 MW from biomass and other sources. Once we manage to achieve these figures, there won’t be any issue to ensure round the clock electricity supply in the state,” said Joint Secretary of New and Renewable Energy Ministry JB Mohapatra.

It may be noted that the state government targets producing 3000 MW renewable energy by 2022. Out of the 3000 MW, 2300 MW of it will be solar, 350 MW will be wind, 150 MW will be from various small scale hydro projects, 180 MW from biomass and 20 MW will be from solid waste.

While a 25 MW solar plant was recently made active in Bolangir district, another 10 MW plant would be inaugurated in Boudh district on September 30.